ATLANTA –Today, following explosivereports over the past four days, the Democratic Party of Georgia released a new audiotape and slide from the August 16 Randolph County Board of Elections meeting where Kemp associate Mike Malone said that Secretary of State Brian Kemp recommended “polling consolidation” in Randolph County.

Mike Malone, a longtime Kemp associate, consulted with the Randolph County Board of Elections following a recommendation by the Secretary of State’s office earlier this year. A known Kemp donor, Malone says he was directed by Kemp to travel around the state to “recommend polling closures.”

In a statement, Brian Kemp claimed to oppose the Randolph County polling closures.

However, new audio evidence highly suggests that Kemp himself directed Malone to recommend the very same polling closures Kemp now claims to oppose. Both in the audiotape and during the presentation, Malone makes it clear that the polling closures come “highly recommended” by Kemp himself.

In his statement, Kemp made no mention of why he had recommended those closures therefore in the first place, if he was now opposing them. When asked about the contradiction, a spokesperson simply repeated the earlier statement and insisted that his position “is crystal clear.”

At the end of the day, the only thing that is crystal clear is that Brian Kemp has taken active, deliberate steps to try to suppress the vote over the course of his entire career, and this instance appears to be no different. In fact, the only difference now is that voters have caught on to his tactics and are calling him out for it.

Georgia voters deserve to know from Brian Kemp himself whether or not he recommended these polling closures as has been reported by his own associate, Mike Malone, and if so, why he is now suddenly changing his position.

Additionally, Brian Kemp’s alleged role in recommending the closing of these polls for an election in which he is a top candidate, make his refusal to resign his position as Secretary of State even more egregious.

“Brian Kemp is a master of voter suppression, and no one-off statement from him is going erase a multi-year career of supporting tactics designed specifically to deny people their voting rights,” said Georgia Democratic Party Chair DuBose Porter. “Georgia voters are onto Brian Kemp, which is why so many of them have called on him to resign his position of Secretary of State – he cannot be trusted to administer the election in which he is a candidate. It’s as clear as ever that he needs to step down.”